Where do we get our morality from? We say – if it is legal, it is all right. Tax avoidance, loans from dubious clients. And if it is not legal, we say we did nothing wrong. Arranged a convenient alibi, bought some shares at the right time – we live by our own rules. If it is in our immediate interest and we can get away with it, that is sufficient justification for any action.
After the death of god comes the death of shame. If we are found out, we write a book about it. What is most important is to convince ourselves that we exist, and for this we need money, status, power, and most of all we need to be able to wave at the camera. The small boy standing behind the television commentator and waving his arms is in training to be a celebrity. The crowd that forms for the reporter in a bombed out street in Bagdad and we see on our evening news is giving meaning to their anonymity.
The falseness of their demonstration for the camera turns their tragedy into entertainment and everyone is diminished. Such is the process of self-justification.
I am however resistant to this assertion of self at the expense of dignity. My reasons are not entirely rational, in some aspects they may even be pathological – but I believe they also have some moral point.
I have to think why I find self-advertisement to be at best unconvincing and often offensive. There is a cultural difference of course – when for a time I had an American colleague, I was able to observe and experience an unironic self-promotion that at first took my breath away in its presumption. And of course this is the norm now in corporate life.
So what do I find objectionable? It is the blatant and crude attempt to manipulate the perception of us. When I advertised for carers for Anna, I received email after email from people who said they had a sense of humour. There is no way by email that you can demonstrate a sense of humour and anyway the only evidence of any worth is they way you find that you feel about other people, not what they say about themselves. But in our self-image dominant culture we list GSOH as if this is equivalent to an academic qualification.
After the death of god comes the death of shame. If we are found out, we write a book about it. What is most important is to convince ourselves that we exist, and for this we need money, status, power, and most of all we need to be able to wave at the camera. The small boy standing behind the television commentator and waving his arms is in training to be a celebrity. The crowd that forms for the reporter in a bombed out street in Bagdad and we see on our evening news is giving meaning to their anonymity.
The falseness of their demonstration for the camera turns their tragedy into entertainment and everyone is diminished. Such is the process of self-justification.
I am however resistant to this assertion of self at the expense of dignity. My reasons are not entirely rational, in some aspects they may even be pathological – but I believe they also have some moral point.
I have to think why I find self-advertisement to be at best unconvincing and often offensive. There is a cultural difference of course – when for a time I had an American colleague, I was able to observe and experience an unironic self-promotion that at first took my breath away in its presumption. And of course this is the norm now in corporate life.
So what do I find objectionable? It is the blatant and crude attempt to manipulate the perception of us. When I advertised for carers for Anna, I received email after email from people who said they had a sense of humour. There is no way by email that you can demonstrate a sense of humour and anyway the only evidence of any worth is they way you find that you feel about other people, not what they say about themselves. But in our self-image dominant culture we list GSOH as if this is equivalent to an academic qualification.
posted by Tim at 2:38 AM
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